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2009-05-26 - Domination TV Interview
Dead by April was interviewed on May 26, 2009 by the Finnish Domination TV. The interview took place before the bands show at Nosturi in Helsinki, Finland, and Johan and Pontus participated. Topics discussed were among others Dead by April's lyrics and Pontus stage fright. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCfxPAyDDVU Script Q: Hi guys, how are you? Johan Olsson: We’re good. Pontus Hjelm: We’re good, we just had dinner. Q: So your music is a mixture of a lot of genres. So I thought about start off with asking, what are you guys listening to lately? Pontus Hjelm: It’s very different from person to person in the band actually. I like music as a whole, and I listen to everything between pop and metal. Q: Any names? Any bands or artists? Pontus Hjelm: Yeah, I like Michael Jackson and I like metal bands like, sure, In Flames, I grew up with them. Anything in between, what’s his name, Stevie Wonder, for example. Q: And you? Johan Olsson: It's most types of music. I’m mostly a metal fan but I listen to a lot of country and pop music as well. Mostly metal and also like Pontus I grew up with In Flames, the Haunted so that stuff is always close to the heart. But I try to listen to as much different music as possible to get as much influences as possible. Q: Lyric wise you could say, correct me if I’m wrong, but the album seems to be a soundtrack to breakups, relationship troubles, stuff like that. Do you agree? Pontus Hjelm: Yeah, I guess you can say that. It’s about a lot of human relations. I write most of the lyrics and I like to keep what they mean to me by myself and let other people find their own meaning. Q: Is there a certain person you wrote the songs to or…? Pontus Hjelm: Well, maybe some songs have a more personal meaning to me than other, but I’m gonna keep that to myself. Q: On a more general level, you talk a lot about relationships in your songs. What would you say is the worst mistake one could make in a relationship? Johan Olsson: To be afraid to be who you are and show the other person who you are I think is the most general mistake people make. Pontus Hjelm: Sure. Q: You guys have a really slick image. You have nice pictures in your album booklet. So I was wondering, do you guys ever look casual. Da you guys sit at your couches at home…? Pontus Hjelm: I think I’m the most casual person in the band. I like to go around like this most of the time; at home, to the gym, just chilling. Q: You have a tight visual image, where you involved in designing the band image, visually? Pontus Hjelm: Yeah, sure. Johan Olsson: Everything about this band is from the band. The songs are from Pontus, and we all decided how things should look and be basically. We don’t let anyone decide for us. That’s another thing about the commercial part. People think that we are some kind of creation by someone. We are creation from ourselves. Everything about the band is from ourselves. This is what we want to do, this is not what anyone else have told us to. That has been our goal from the start to do what we want to do. Q: I heard that you Pontus, at least used to suffer from stage fright. Pontus Hjelm: Oh yeah, kind of bad stage fright. But after all these gigs I have actually learned to be addicted to go up on stage. It’s been quite a journey for me personally. Q: Did you have to develop certain methods to cope with the stage fright? Pontus Hjelm: No, at first I could have anxiety like two weeks before a gig, really bad. I don’t feel anything now and we’re going up on stage in like three hours. I don’t know, it’s just the time and all the gigs. You get experience. Q: Okay, we’re happy about that. How about you Johan, do you have any stage fright? Johan Olsson: No, don’t basically. I mean, you always feel something before you go but it’s mostly try to keep yourself and get yourself up so you’re ready. But not in a way that brings me down. I think it’s human nature to feel a little anxiety before going up in front of like a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand. 'Q: I wish you a happy tour and especially a great gig tonight. '